The Clock Strikes Midnight

  "But if what you’re saying is true," River paused briefly, casting her eye at the open window. For a brief second she thought she saw a flicker of movement, something metallic flashing in the sunlight before she blinked and it were gone. "This phone call could potentially cause a paradox. The damage would be catastrophic. more so then any invasion." 

A sigh escaped her as she paused, listening to Jean. She were vaguely aware of the front door opening once more, glancing towards the open doorway in mild curiosity. Rory wasn’t due back until later that evening, or so Amy had told her anyway. Something about an emergency at the hospital. She shook her head at that, putting the thought out of her mind as she turned her attentions back to Jean. 

"That’s all well and good sweetie but you’re right, it isn’t December yet. am I supposed to sit here idly and wait for that to happen in order to prove you right?" 

Jean went silent for a moment, setting the phone down and turning the speaker on. Something didn't seem right. Weren't there reports on rogue Cybermen attacks months before the actual invasion? Ignoring River's words about a paradox due to the phone call, something she knew couldn't happen after all of the research she and many others had put into this test, she turned to a member of her team.

"Get me the reports on what happened the day before Halloween two hundred years ago. Now!"

As the reports were brought to her, she spread them out, reading over them frantically. A neighborhood had been hit by a few loose Cybermen, but not enough to change anyone's mind on the darker truth. With a list of those missing or dead, she spied an all too familiar name, one that belonged to the woman on the other line. No. She shouldn't do this. She risked time already by telling River about the invasion, but. . . This woman might be their only chance at stopping this. Their only chance at keeping the future peaceful, and not the dystopian society she was born into. "River Song, you have to listen to me very carefully. . . You're currently in a house that a woman named Amy and a man named Rory live in, correct?"

Eyes still on the papers, she continued, "Get out. Now. The very neighborhood you're in is a current target for Cybermen and they might already be there! Grab your friend and get out, and if you can't help her, then just run." The other woman was listed as an unknown casualty, no one back then knew if she was dead or missing. Which could only mean Jean was either messing with time or keeping it going on the right path.

She said it with such conviction, as if it were the truth and not a mere prank as River had assumed that for A moment, she were actually inclined to believe her.

“What sort of a person voluntarily subjects themselves to experimentation at that level? And how? We won’t possibly have that sort of technology,” River paused, swallowing, “For another two hundred years.”

Jean heard the pause in River's voice, the way she said they wouldn't have the technology in another two hundred years. Good, this was good. She was possibly believing her now.

"A person who wants to help take her planet back and have some sort of upper hand against the Cybermen without actually undergoing an upgrade," she said, shifting the phone to her other ear. "And you're right. You lot don't have this yet, but we do."

“Oh obviously. ” River returned, sarcasm dripping from that tone as began to pace Amy’s hallway, waving off the other woman’s curious stares as she did so. What on Earth were these people up to? Briefly, she wondered if this woman were part of that underground organization. What was their name again? Something to do with keeping quiet. Oh that’s right, it was called the Silence.

"If you're after my name with the intent of looking me up, I can already tell you that you will find no information on me." A memeber of her team lifted their head when she said that, and she gave them a look to send them back to work. If revealing her name to a woman in the past would somehow have that woman trust her about facts no one could have access to where she was, then she'd give out her name. "Doctor Jean Smith. That's my name."

River couldn’t help but grit her teeth. “Awfully persistent aren’t you sweetie?” How on earth had they managed to get hold of her mobile number? For a moment she were completely stumped, her brain trying to calculate all of the possible scenarios. Could they have known a colleague of hers, or found it on the Archaeological register? No. That didn’t fit. The other option of course was Octavian. Yes, just like the bastard to hand her number out to the Cyber-fanatics or whatever they were calling themselves.

Jean was tempted to hang up, to just try a different number and hope they were more willing to listen. And yet she found herself quickly making a note of the number she had just dialed. The connection seemed far more stable than the last one, less static and no risk of losing the call at the moment. She waited for River to speak, nodding a bit when she finally decided to listen. But this was no game, and Jean was going to have to come up with a good way to prove so. She motioned for one of the others to come over, taking a few papers from her before allowing her to return to her work.

"Bad day?" "What gave that little secret away?" Giving Amelia a tight lipped smile, River made her way onto the porch, an arm curling around one of the Edwardian style beams to help herself up. "Nothing a good cup of tea can’t fix." She watched as Amy’s face broke into a grin, pulling the elder woman into a hug that she hadn’t been expecting. Surprised, a little embarrassed as well, the archaeologist returned the gesture half-heartedly.

Orphaned at the age of eight, being shunted from house to house for the next nine years, she had never seen the point in clinging to anything. No matter how tightly you grasped at something, it still managed to slip out of your grasp. It was a miracle she’d finished her degree with that sort of attitude. But, considering her chosen area of expertise, one could see the allure that Archaeology held. The perfect career for a woman without roots. Well, a few lingering sprouts perhaps.

River’s stubborn resolve had been sorely tested when Amelia Pond & Rory Williams had placed themselves in her path and simply refused to leave. At first it had been bewildering. Then it was mildly annoying and finally, infuriating. Eventually, River had learnt to accept it and, though she would never admit it, she had begun to enjoy their company. That had been over seven years ago.

Jean kept her gaze on her team for as long as she could while the phone rang. It could be anyone this time, maybe someone who would actually listen and not think of her life as a joke. On the other hand, she could be dialing a number that would connect her to a phone here and all their hard work would go to waste, and the Cybermen would be upon them in a matter of minutes.

So when the ringing stopped and a voice spoke, she nearly shouted in frustration. The same woman, a different number. Well, whoever this River Song happened to be, she better listen now.

"River Song. That's what you called yourself with the other number, right? I know you probably don't want to hear a damn thing I have to say, but listen to me. I am making no jokes when I say that I am currently in the year 2256, two centuries after the Cybermen took over everything in December. Please, please, I'm begging you to listen! You won't last much longer if you don't listen!"